A renowned hypnotherapist is attempting to send 400 people into a trance at once.

John Mill, a hypnotherapist based in Harley Street, West London, will attempt the mass hypnosis next month.

As a man who regularly delves into the psyche of narcissistic celebrities, hypnotising 400 people at once should not be a problem.

On July 21, at the Thomas Wall Centre in Sutton, residents are being invited to temporarily lose their minds for charity.

Mr Mill, a former child counsellor, is attempting to raise money for a Sutton girl named Hannah Johnsson.

Miss Johnsson has a neurological disorder which only 1 in 150000 girls are born with called RETT syndrome.

The five-year-old suffers from the disorder which stunts development, which means she has the developmental age of an 18-month-old child.

She will almost certainly never learn to talk and there is a 50 per cent chance that Miss Johnsson will lose the ability to walk.

RETT syndrome is the leading cause of profound disability within females, but it is hoped that with time and funding the disorder will be cured.

It is for these reasons, Mr Mill wants to raise money for the Rett Syndrome Research Trust. For those interested in taking part in the mass hypnosis, it will cost £5 a head, and all the money raised will go to the trust.

An auction will accompany the event and up for grabs are a signed Simon Cowell picture as well as a dinner for two at the Indiya Indiya restaurant.

Visit http://www.harleystreethypnosis.co.uk/index26.html/index-26.html to book your place.

Mr Mill said: "Its a great cause, and it should be good fun if everyone gets involved. I have only done one large scale hypnosis before so this should be interesting."

Sutton Guardian reporter James Pepper describes how he was put under a spell.

As somebody who likes to think of himself as open minded, the cynic in me only briefly reared his ugly head, and that was when my hypnotist's hand with a dot in the middle of it came towards me and then clasped shut, to signal me 'being under'.

I wasn't.

I giggled inside at Bo selecta's David Blaine impression as I kept thinking of the word sh'zaam.

But then as Mr Mills described a beach, and then a bird, I felt like the Dude in the opening sequence of the Big Lebowski. In fact, it was exactly like that. I was on a cloud, listening to Bob Dylan's The Man In Me, and I definitely was 'under'.

I was floating over the Carribbean without a care in the world, and then I distinctly remember Mr Mills telling me to look at a hand. I opened my eyes to find my own hand - through no effort of my own - levitating somewhere near my head, and the cynic in me was gone, whereas the man in me was all that mattered.